New on the Block
by bwayfan25
Summary: Sokka meets his new neighbor. Tokka modern AU featuring more fanfic tropes than I'm comfortable woth (but can't stop writing). T for language and suggestive themes.
1. Chapter 1

The keys hit the cement.

"Ugh. Of course," Toph muttered.

She put down the bag of groceries down on the ground as she knelt down to find them. After a second, she located the keys and tried the doorknob again.

"Having trouble?" a young man's voice said from a little ways behind her. "Yeah, these doors are hard to get the hang of. Took me nearly three months to do it the first time. Here. Let me try."

"Oh... uh sure."

Toph opened her hand and let the young man take the keys from her. She listened to him grunt for a moment before the lock clicked.

"There you are," the man said, putting the keys back in her hand. "You new here?"

"No, no. I've been living in the attic for the last fifty years and I finally ran out of soda crackers and Tang," Toph said in a bored voice. The young man chuckled.

"Okay well, I'm glad you did because that way we got the chance to meet. And also, you don't look a day over... eighty? I'm sorry. I'm not sure how old you were when you entered the attic so..." the young man smiled. He stuck out his hand. "I'm Sokka."

"Nice to meet you Sokka," Toph replied, though she didn't move to shake his hand. "I'm Toph."

"Nice to meet you too, Toph," Sokka replied slowly, raising an eyebrow. "Well I'm on my way out to grab a cup of coffee. Would you care to join me?"

"Depends," Toph smirked, as she readjusted the bag in her hands. "What are you willing to spend on a cup of coffee for me? Are we talking McDonald's, Starbucks, or that espresso place down the street that smelled so good?"

Sokka rubbed a hand across the back of his head.

"Uh... well, if I'm buying, then I could do McDonald's or Starbucks, but only if you buy plain black coffee. No frills."

"How about I buy and we go to the espresso place? Let me just put these down," Toph said with a smirk. "Feel free to come in if you'd like."

Sokka smiled and followed her in.

The furniture in the apartment looked plush and new, but there seemed only to be the basics. A couch, coffee table, end tables, an armchair. The living room opened onto a a dining room, followed by the kitchen, where a counter separated the two rooms. Toph crossed to the kitchen, and put a hand down on the counter before setting he bag down. Sokka followed to the dining room table and pulled out a chair. It scraped softly agains the fake wooden floor.

"If you move a chair, make sure you put it back where you found it," Toph said without turning from the cupboard.

"Oh yeah. I will."

Sokka looked around.

"So you just moved in?"

"Yeah. About a week ago or so."

"Gotcha. So you're not quite unpacked yet?"

"Oh no. I'm unpacked. I just don't have much. I'm, oh what do they call it now... a minimalist."

Sokka nodded, but didn't say anything. Behind him, Toph opened a window. A breeze blew through the kitchen and Sokka caught a whiff of himself.

"Oh wow," he said with a small choking cough. "I knew I probably smelled after my workout but I didn't realize it was that bad. I should go take a shower before we go out anywhere."

"Yeah, I've smelled it since you walked up, but I wasn't going to say anything for fear of hurting your pride," Toph said, smirking yet again. "How about you go do that, and I'll meet you for coffee in about, half an hour?"

"Sounds great," Sokka answered. "I will see you there in half an hour."

With barely another glance, Sokka got up and pushed the chair in before crossing back out of the room and out the door. He practically sprinted back to his condo a few doors down. He usually took long showers, but there was something about this girl. Something told him that if he were late, he might never hear the end of it.

After his quick shower, Sokka dressed in a (clean) t-shirt and jeans and made his way to the espresso shop down the street. It was pretty empty now during the middle of the day. To his suprise, Toph was already seated at a table in the cafe.

"Hey. I, uh, didn't expect you to be here already."

"Oh yeah," Toph replied, waving him away. "Turned out I didn't need as much time to put groceries away. You wanna order?"

"Uh, sure," Sokka answered.

Toph smiled and stood from her chair. Sokka made his way up to the cashier, with Toph following behind.

"Welcome to Flameo's. What can I get you?" the cashier asked jovially as Sokka approached the counter.

"Um... I'll have a large black coffee, uh the dark roast, with a little room in the top."

The cashier added the order on the register. Sokka took a small step back to let Toph forward.

"And for you, ma'am?"

"Can I see your small and medium cups please?" Toph said with a smile.

The cashier frowned, but put the two cups on the counter nonethless. Toph picked them up with cupped hands and weighed them for a second.

"I'll have a medium mocha with two shots of espresso and two shots of vanilla, please. And I've got his order too."

"Wonderful. That'll be eight dollars and thirty two cents."

Toph pulled out a handful of folded bills from her pocket. She picked out the a ten dollar bill and handed it over.

"Thank you very much. Give me just one second."

Toph rested her hand on the counter until the cashier had counter out the change. The girl muttered something and Toph lifted her hand to receive it.

"We'll have those out in just one second."

"Thank you," Toph replied. She spun on her heel and led the way back to the table. Sokka followed.

"So, what do you do?" Sokka asked in an almost incredulous voice as he took a seat at the table across from Toph.

"Mostly watch Netflix," Toph smirked.

"No, I mean... what do you do to be able to afford the fancy espresso place?"

"Oh," Toph let out a chuckle. "I'm a malpractice lawyer."

Sokka paled.

"Oh... wow..." Sokka laughed nervously. "I'm suddenly really afraid of you."

"Are you a doctor?"

"No, but my sister is," Sokka muttered. The woman across from him laughed.

"I'm sure she doesn't have anything to worry about. I mostly deal with gross negligence cases. The huge yucky cases where the criminals no one thinks to arrest tend to get off the hook. That kind of thing," Toph grinned. "So what do you do to barely afford Starbucks?"

"Well, I'm a grad student, so most of my time is spent reading about leadership and public affairs. But I'm a trainer at the gym and teach a couple martial arts classes. Hence why I smelled so damn awful earlier. I did a training session with my roommate, who could lap me while running backwards in heels, and then I chased around the Little Tigers class for an hour."

"Fun," Toph said, before her brow furrowed. "Wait... you're a grad student? You're not... younger than me are you?"

"What? Oh no, probably not. I took a couple years off and worked while my sister was in med school. I started my grad program last year part-time so I could continue to work and send money to her while she's in her residency and also back home to my dad and grandma."

"That's... that's really sweet. I mean... that's really good of you. To do that."

"Hey, they made sure I survived until adulthood. The least I can do is help to take care of them now.

Toph smiled slightly just as the woman behind the register called out their names. Sokka rose from his chair and crossed to get them. He returned a moment later and sat her drink in front of her.

"So I've got a question for you."

"Hmmm?"

"Why malpractice? I don't know much about the world of lawyering. Is it particularly lucrative or what? Because honestly, all I can think is that you're an ambulance chaser."

Toph laughed.

"I can understand why you'd think that. You can say I'm... a little more ethical than them. I pursue justice for those that can't do it on their own. Most of my work is pro bono. My family once had to go through a suit like I do, but they only did so because they could afford to. Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to do it for those who didn't necessarily have the privilege we had," Toph finished, taking a sip of her drink.

"I totally understand that sense of justice from a personal standpoint. That's why my sister is a doctor, actually," Sokka said, taking a sip of his own. Toph raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. We come from this tiny little village out in the middle of nowhere and there's no doctors. At all. But there's a lot of elderly people and sick people and kids. So my sister went to medical school specifically so she could take her skills back to our village and set up a community health center. She actually got a couple experienced doctors on board and created her whole residency out of it."

"That's amazing. And furthers my point that she'll probably never have a run in with me."

Sokka smiled and sipped at his coffee again.

"One thing though. You said your family had experience with med malpractice. Can I ask what happened? If you don't mind."

"You mean you can't tell?" Toph asked, a smirk starting to spread across her face.

"Uh...Should I be able to?"

Toph gave her most dangerous smirk yet.

"I can't see."

Sokka's eyes widened.

"Wait… what?"

"You really couldn't tell?"

"No, you just…" Sokka's mouth gaped. "I couldn't tell at all. Like… not at all."

"I seriously doubt that."

"Oh really? Well then, Miss Lawyerwoman. Present your evidence." Sokka challenged. He sat back in his chair a little.

Toph sighed, still smirking. She took a long sip from her coffee before setting the cup down and intertwining her fingers in front of her on the table.

"Okay. First, you noticed that I don't have much in my apartment."

"You said you were a minimalist. So is half the Internet."

"Second, I asked you to put the chair back when you were done with it."

"I thought you were persnickety."

"Third, I picked up the cups as opposed to just looking at them."

"I thought you were just taking your time to judge how much coffee you wanted."

"Fourth, I had my money specially folded so I can tell the bills apart. Surely you noticed that?"

Sokka was about to retort, but he paused, thinking. He didn't have an answer for this one, but he had too much skin in the game to give up now.

"I thought you were really into origami."

"Uh-huh. Well five, you paused earlier in the conversation and I expect you probably were trying to shake my hand and finally six, which you would have seen had I not beaten you here…" Toph reached down and shuffled around in her purse for a moment before pulling out a folded white cane and putting it down on the table. "Your honor, I think that's all the evidence I need. The defense rests."

Sokka smirked.

"Okay. I believe you. So what was the malpractice thing then? I assume it's related?"

"Yes. It was basically the perfect storm of problems. The hospital was too cheap to hire more nurses so the nurse in the newborn ward at the hospital was on like the seventeenth hour of a double shift. The doctor who was supposed to oversee her was slacking off somewhere. Nurse forgot to wash her hands after dealing with a patient because she was so tired, I got an infection that led to a really high fever and here we are," Toph said, adding a shrug at the end. "And we don't blame that nurse at all. Because come on… seventeen hours? No wonder she forgot to wash her hands. No, we sued the doctor and the hospital. We're family friends with the nurse now and we see her every so often. Well, I don't, and I have learned better than to make that joke around her."

Sokka carefully listened to her words. She told the story so casually, almost with boredom. Like she'd told it a million times.

"Well this explains why you weren't making much eye contact with me," Sokka stated after a moment's silence. "I thought either you were shy or flirting with me. Neither of which was coming through in conversation so..."

"Oh you'd know if I were flirting with you."

Sokka laughed, but a weird pang went through his chest. It felt like… disappointment. Was he disappointed that she wasn't flirting with him?

To hide any awkwardness and disappointment he may or may not have been feeling, Sokka sipped at his drink.

"Okay I have one more question for you," Sokka stated.

"Just one?"

"Yeah. If you mostly do pro bono work, how can you still afford the fancy espresso place?"

"My family is the biggest employer in the region," Toph said, waving him away. "So you could say… I'm loaded."

"What, you're telling me your family owns The Beifong Company? That biggest employer in the region?" Sokka asked, mockingly.

"Yeah. That's exactly it."

Once again, Sokka's jaw dropped.

"So you're… But, but…"

"I just keep shocking you don't I?" Toph said smiling as she finished her coffee.

"But wait… I thought the Beifong Company was involved in mining and production. Industry and stuff," Sokka said, raising an eyebrow. "You don't work for them, do you?"

"I might end up having to take over the family business someday, but for now I work for a law firm in the city. That's why I moved. The firm relocated and I didn't feel like an hour long bus ride everyday."

"Ah. So you ride the bus?"

"No, I drive a '76 Mustang," Toph said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Of course I ride the bus."

"Well, I would've thought the daughter and heir to the Beifong family fortune would get a chauffeur or something."

"Nah. I didn't like that kind of attention," TOph said, and to Sokka's surprise, color rose in her cheeks. "I prefer the bus. Though I have driven once."

"Really?"

"Yep. Once. In law school. There was plenty of alcohol involved," Toph said, chuckling at the memory. "Not by me. But by my friends. I was totally sober."

"Good," Sokka chuckled. "Because drunk driving is bad enough. But drunk driving while… uh, visually impaired?"

"Blind."

"Drunk driving while blind is even worse."

"I apparently did really well. The friend navigating me was oddly specific, which is strange because when he's sober he can barely explain how to tie a shoe."

Sokka smiled, resting his chin in his hand. He just looked at Toph for a moment, before he realized what he was doing and promptly stopped, going so far as to scooting away from the table a bit.

"So, uh… I hate to cut this too short, but I should really get back to studying," Sokka said quickly. He was secretly pleased Toph could not see him blush.

"Oh, okay," Toph said, surprised. Her smile faded. "I guess there's a bit of work I could do too."

"So, can I walk you home?"

"Well it would be strange if you didn't considering we'll basically be going to the same place."

Sokka smiled slightly. He picked up their empty cups and carried them to the trash. By the time he had returned, Toph already had her cane out and had made her way to the door.

"Shall we?" Toph said, offering her arm to Sokka.

She held her cane vertically in her right hand and offered her left. He took her, looping his arm through hers so they connected at the elbow. Sokka stared straight ahead, willing his cheeks not to burn. They did, and in staring straight ahead, he missed that hers did too.

They said very little during the ten minute walk from the cafe back to Toph's front door. Toph didn't need his help, and yet she had offered her arm to him. What did that mean?

"The step is right ahead of you," Sokka said as they reached the small porch.

Toph nodded and found it with her cane. She stepped up, releasing Sokka's arm as she did so. He couldn't help but sigh as she let go, and then promptly wished she didn't hear it. (She did.)

"Oh by the way. If you ever need me, I'm two doors down. It's the one with those signs that say 'Zuko for President' and 'Aang for Worst Campaign Manager'. It was just of a stupid thing my roommates were doing."

"Yeah, because I'm going to notice that."

"Oh yeah," Sokka said. He ran a finger across his stubbly chin and then snapped, a victorious smirk on his face. "Okay. You know that uneven sidewalk we passed on the way here? That's our front walk. There was an incident and the concrete got broken."

"You broke concrete?"

"Well, I didn't… and the Non-Disclosure Agreement I signed says I can't say who did it, but it wasn't me."

"Wow," Toph laughed. "An NDA. You really know how to party."

"So I guess I'll see you around then?" Sokka said, rubbing a hand across the back of his head.

"I can't say I'll do the same, but I'm sure we'll run into each other at some point," Toph said, shooting him a finger gun followed by a sad smile. "Have fun studying."

"Have fun with your, uh, court stuff."

Toph smiled a little as she turned to her door and pulled her keys from her purse. Sokka smiled for a moment, before turning and heading down the sidewalk.

"Hey Sokka wait."

Sokka spun on his heel. Toph's door was open, and she leaned against the door frame. To his surprise, she bit her lip.

"Yeah?"

"Did you ever put that chair back where you found it?"

"Um yeah I did, because you told me…" Sokka started, pausing when caught the smirk spreading across her face. "I mean… uh, no I don't think I did."

"So, maybe you should come in and check..."


	2. Chapter 2

Sokka's feet dragged as he turned down a side street that led to his house.

The Comparative Government exam he had been studying so hard for was supposed to focus on two pieces of literature that emphasized Water Tribe and Earth Kingdom governments. Instead, it covered mostly Fire Nation governmental structure, which they weren't supposed to even start until after the test.

Pulling himself back to reality, he looked up before making the last turn onto his street, and to his pleasant surprise, he saw Toph walking straight towards him. He waved happily, and was momentarily disappointed when she didn't wave back.

"Hey Toph!" he called out just as they converged on the street corner.

"Wha- I'm sorry, who is that?"

"Sokka? From coffee last week?"

"Oh. Hi Sokka," she said with a small smile as she shook her head. "I'm sorry. I was caught up in my own thoughts. How are you?"

"Uh, not good. I just bombed an exam. How about you? I haven't seen you over the past couple days."

"Not good either. Work has been hell. I've worked late the past couple days. Really late. I've actually slept at the office the last couple nights. My boss finally told me to go home," Toph said before yawning as if to make her point.

"Ugh. That bites. Big case or something?" Sokka asked.

"Yeah. Big, bad, and buggy." Sokka made a noise of disgust. Toph smirked. "Not a fan of bugs?"

"Not a huge one, but it's especially gross because you do _medical malpractice._ I don't want to know anymore," Sokka said. A shiver went through his body.

"Good. 'Cuz I can't tell you any more," Toph chuckled. "What are you doing tonight?"

"Well I may or may not have a beer when I get home, then I'll probably nap for a few hours before going to the school tonight and teach a class before taking a class."

"Martial arts right?"

"Yeah. Taekwondo specifically," Sokka said. His face burned as he tried to figure out why she asked. "What about you?"

"I just want to sleep but I know I shouldn't if I want to sleep tonight," Toph said before coming to a stop. "What school is it that you teach at?"

"Master Iroh Li's school. It's connected to the gym I train at. They have a trial periods if you were ever interested in coming and trying out a class," Sokka added. His face burned again. "I could take you with me tonight if you're not doing anything."

Toph considered this for a moment.

"Yeah. That would be great. What time?"

"Class starts at six, so I usually head out around 5:30."

"Great. I'll meet you here at 5:30," Toph said with a smile.

Sokka looked up, unaware that they had been standing outside of Toph's house for the past few moments.

"Wait… how did you know we were-"

"Um..." Toph held up her cane, her brow furrowed. "I know how to walk home from the bus stop. Plus we passed the piece of concrete in front of your door that you did or did not break."

"Did _not_ break. I did not break it."

Toph smirked.

"Sure you didn't. So I'll see you out here at 5:30?"

"Will you though?" Sokka joked, which earned him a punch in the arm. "Hey! What was that for?"

Toph shrugged, a smirk still on her face. She said nothing as she turned and made her way up to the doorstep and into the house.

A beer and a power nap later, Sokka was dressed in his white uniform, waiting at the curb next to his car. He checked his watch: 5:29pm.

As if on cue, the door to Toph's house opened, and she came out. She was dressed in a sports tank and shorts, and a gym bag was slung over her shoulder.

"Ready?"

"I was born ready," she answered.

Sokka clicked the car fob, and they both took their places in the car. In honesty, the school/gym wasn't far from their houses, but Sokka always left exhausted and found it best to drive instead of walk.

"Alright. So I'll get the door, and maybe ten or fifteen feet in there's a staircase going down," Sokka said as they climbed out of the car.

Toph muttered a word of thanks. They walked in silence up to the door, which Sokka held open as promised.

They followed the stairs down into a small lobby.

"Well hello," a young moustached man greeted from behind the counter in the lobby. "Who's this?"

"Haru, this is Toph. Toph this is my friend Haru."

"Nice to meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine," Haru said with a grin. "You a new student?"

"She's here to try out a class," Sokka answered.

"Yeah. We'll see how it goes," Toph added. She turned and touched Sokka gently on the arm. "Hey. Where's the bathroom?"

"Uh, go through the doorway up ahead and then follow the right hand wall. It's about halfway down the room. There's a row of chairs against the right hand side of the wall. At the end of those."

"Wonderful. I'll be right back."

Toph smiled and turned to go to the bathroom. Sokka and Haru both watched her for a second, before Haru turned his attention back to Sokka.

"Wow. Who is she and where did you find her?"

"She's my new neighbor. We met last week," Sokka said, rubbing a hand across the back of his neck.

"And she just decided she wanted to try it out today? Like out of nowhere?" Haru asked incredulously. Sokka nodded. "Uh, dude? I think she came here for you."

"What? No. She wouldn't. She just asked what I was doing tonight and when I said I was coming here she said-"

"Oh come on man. She definitely came here for you," Haru said. "She asked what you were doing tonight and _then_ decided to come try it out. She definitely wants to impress you."

Sokka shrugged, but Haru's words stuck in the back of his mind.

"I gotta go get ready for the class. I'll see you later."

Sokka turned and followed the same path Toph took into the large practice space.

Mats covered most of the floor. The walls were covered in photos and awards along one side, and boxes of equipment down the other. A group of six or so were stretching and warming up already, all of them between white and orange belts; the beginner class.

Toph had taken a seat on the right hand side of the room. Sokka made his way over to her and sat down beside her. Suddenly, he felt very self-conscious. Surely she didn't come here just for him, right?

"So hey," he began, an edge of nervousness in his voice. "You still want to try out a class?"

"Uh yeah. But I think I want to observe one first. Get the feel of the school and everything."

"Observe?" Sokka said slowly, which earned him another punch to the arm. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. But yeah. If you want to just hang here I guess. This class is about an hour long. Then there's the mixed-level class that I take afterwards and that's a little longer."

"Sounds great."

Toph smiled at him, though he still felt odd. But he had to get ready to teach, and though he could see her out of the corner of his eye throughout the class, the barrage of drills and eventually sparring practice put her mostly out of his mind.

"So?" Sokka said as he bowed out the class and came over to join her. "What do you think?"

"Not bad," Toph said, shrugging slightly. "I think you could be a little louder though. It'll make you sound tougher."

"Hey! I'm plenty tough," Sokka said, quickly stepping out of her way before she could punch him again. "I'm gonna run and go get a bottle of water and I'll be back in a minute."

Toph gave him a thumbs up. Sokka smiled and went back out to the lobby, pausing only to bow as he exited the door from the main room.

"So am I mistaken, or did she just sit there and watch the entire time?" Haru asked in a low voice as Sokka went behind the counter and pulled a bottle from the mini fridge behind it.

"She sat there and _listened_. But yeah. I was kind of taken aback. I'm sure if she wanted to try it out, that would have been the best class."

Haru raised an eyebrow. His mouth curled into a smirk. Sokka rolled his eyes in response.

"Dude…"

"I told you she's not here for me."

Haru nodded, but continued to smirk. Sokka rolled his eyes once again.

Toph was not in her seat on the side when Sokka returned to the main room. Expecting she probably had gotten up to stretch her legs or go to the bathroom again, Sokka bowed himself back onto the mat and greeted the gathering crowd of martial artists. This time belt colors ranged from white all the way through black. It was often the best attended class of the week, partly because it was open to all levels and partly because it was Master Iroh who taught it.

After saying his to a few of his friends, Sokka turned back to see if Toph had returned. She had indeed returned, and had knelt down, legs tucked under her, at the edge of the mat. Her eyes were closed, her hands on her lap.

His smiled and jogged back over to the edge where she knelt.

"So this next class is the mixed-level class. Since you sat out the beginner class, do you maybe want to try this one instead?"

"That's the plan," Toph said, her back to him as she shuffled through her bag. "I thought it would have been weird to be in the beginner class considering I'm a black belt."

"Oh yeah?" Sokka said, one eyebrow raised. "I thought you said you wanted to do the trial period…"

"Yeah I do. Because, you know, I moved across town and my normal school is on the other side of town and it would be difficult to get over there during the week. Since you said you taught at a school close by, I thought I'd try it out. What, you thought I was brand new?"

Toph chuckled as she pulled out a crisp white taekwondo uniform, lined with black. She slipped on the pants and top before pulling out a black belt. She measured it around her waist, evened it out, and then tied the knot.

"Well, I'll be damned. You do have a black belt," Sokka said. It was his turn to chuckle. "Let me guess, you got that the same way you got into law school?"

Toph turned slowly back to face him, her jaw clenched.

"What the fuck did you just say?"

Sokka paled.

"Nothing, nothing."

"No. I heard what you said. I want you to say it again and then tell me what the hell you meant."

"It was just a joke, I promise. I didn't mean-"

"What. The. Hell. Did. You. Mean."

"Nothing. I didn't mean anything by it. I was just kidding because, you know, sometimes schools will just let you-"

She took a step towards him and plunged a finger into his chest.

"For your information, I got a 178 on the LSAT, first time, despite waking up late and having a cold. Second of all, I've been practicing taekwondo for the last nineteen years and I am a fifth dan master practitioner so you can just shut the fuck up. You hear me?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that I swear. It was just a bad joke."

"Maybe. Or maybe just a bad guy."

Toph moved her hand over until she found his shoulder and walked past him.

Sokka cursed himself under his breath as he turned. She bowed herself onto the mat, and made her way towards the front. After asking a nearby student, she found her place in line.

Sokka too bowed himself onto the mat, lining up a few students down from Toph.

"Good evening students," Iroh greeted as he made his way to the front of class.

"Good evening, sir," the class replied in unison.

"I'm happy to see so many familiar faces, and some new faces too," Iroh said. "But unfortunately my trip to the tea shop took a bit too longer than expected, so we don't have time for introductions right now. But I am happy you are all here nonetheless."

Iroh smiled, his eyes scanning the group as he led them through the warm up and forms.

"What's Master Beifong doing here?" Zuko asked quietly to Sokka as they lined up for kicking drills. He had slipped in at the last minute, and was doing his best to avoid his uncle's gaze.

"Who?"

"Her," Zuko said, nodding at Toph, who was in the line on the other end of the space. "She's the best in the city, next to my uncle, but she's always gone to our rival school. She's taken the top spot at the city championships in forms and sparring for the last five years, and rumor has it they wanted her for the Earth Kingdom National team, but the committee said no because she's blind."

 _Fuck_.

"She's our new neighbor. I brought her here because she said she wanted to try it out."

Zuko raised an eyebrow, before a look of confused understanding crossed his face.

"Wait… _she's_ the girl who took you to coffee last week?"

"Hey. I took her," Sokka said defensively.

"You said she paid, which means she took you," Zuko smirked. He gave a little bounce on his toes before starting forward to do his stretch kicks.

Sokka shook his head and followed him.

When they stopped for a water break, Toph followed the edge of the mat with her foot until she got back to the chair with her stuff. To her chagrin, someone was standing in front of the her bag.

"Excuse me," she muttered.

"It's me. Can we talk?"

"Absolutely not," she hissed, shoving her way past him.

Sokka sighed. Zuko raised an eyebrow from across the room.

"I thought you said that you guys were on good terms?" Zuko said as he handed Sokka a chest protector. "She invited you over and all that."

"She did. And I told you… it didn't go anywhere. It felt like it was going to, but I think we both got cold feet. We ended up just chatting for awhile, and then I went home."

"But she came with you here? So what did you do?"

"How do you know I did anything?" Sokka said, offended.

"Come on," Zuko snorted. "What did you do?"

"I might have said a joke that she didn't appreciate. Sort of implied that she got into law school and got her black belt for either being rich or blind. Or both."

Zuko let out a sigh, and shook his head, smirking.

"I'd say that's rough buddy, but you kind of brought that on yourself."

"Alright everybody," Iroh called across the room. "Partner up for sparring drills. Zuko, would you please lead this section."

"Yes uncle," Zuko said, bowing to the master before approaching the front.

"Alright everyone, let's start with roundhouse kicks to the chest, 25% power. Take it slow for now. We're just warming up."

The class paired off. Across the room, Toph was paired off with some blue belt guy. Something in Sokka's chest surged when he saw her touch the guy's chest. It abated only slightly when he realized she was figuring out where to aim her kicks.

"Sokka, would you come up here and be my partner?" Zuko asked. Sokka obliged and proceeded to be Zuko's example punching bag for the next twenty minutes.

"Take a quick break and then we will do some full contact sparring," Iroh announced. "Please put on your sparring gear. If you don't have your own, you may borrow some from our school."

Toph scoffed. She hadn't anticipated sparring and had consequently left her equipment at home. Borrowing a chest protector was one thing, but that was usually as much as she'd borrow. Though she eventually found the box of equipment and pulled out a helmet and shin guards that fit, she couldn't shake the feeling of grittiness that settled in as she put them on.

"Alright," Iroh said happily, clapping his hands together as the group returned to the mat, now decked out in full sparring gear. "Who would like to go first?"

No one raised their hand.

"No one wants to try? Do I have to single each of you out?" He said with a sly smile. "Sokka. How about you?"

Sokka sighed, but put his helmet on nonetheless. Across the room, a hand shot up. The owner of said hand was too short to be seen through the crowd, but he knew exactly who it was.

"Thank you Master Beifong. Come around here," Iroh instructed.

Toph made her way forward through the students as most of them backed up to the edge of the ring, leaving space in the middle for the pair to spar. As Iroh led her to her place across from him, Sokka was struck by exactly how much shorter she was than him.

"Alright. Master Beifong, would you like to-"

"No thank you, sir. I know where to aim," Toph replied with a smirk.

Iroh let out a belly laugh, and many of the students chuckled. Sokka didn't find this particularly funny.

Iroh had them bow and then called out the signals to start fighting. As Sokka assumed his stance, he paid close attention to Toph's. Her head was turned slightly to the side as she listened.

Taking a deep breath, Sokka took a step forward and raised his leg in a roundhouse kick. But before he could even aim it, something hard made contact with the side of his head. He stumbled, thrown off, and as he shifted backwards, there was another hard kick, this time to his side.

"Two points for contact to the chest," Iroh called out, for Toph's benefit not his (he didn't need reminding). "Head kick was too low."

Sokka looked up, his breath heavy, and saw Toph return to her position across from him. One of her feet crossed over the other as she started moving in a circle around the ring. He started moving opposite her.

Before he saw what happened, she leapt back to where she was and her foot found his chest again.

"Two points for chest contact."

Toph smirked as she started bouncing slightly on her toes following the recent kick. She hadn't turned her hip over enough and had made connection with the side of her foot instead of the top. It stung.

She shook it off, and continued bouncing. In switching her stance from facing left to facing right, she felt her foot slide over the edge of the mat.

Damn.

Iroh called for them to stop.

"Master Beifong, you stepped out of the ring. One point to Sokka."

Sokka shook his head.

"No. She didn't know-"

"I didn't know where the edge was and I stepped out of the ring, so you get the point," Toph hissed. "Those are the rules."

Iroh looked from Toph to Sokka and back. He shrugged.

"One point to Sokka. Thirty seconds left."

Iroh called them back in and they resumed their stances. Toph made sure to bounce a little closer to the center ring.

Sokka took this in his stride and tried a quick attack forward. She countered with a kick to his chest. He felt it connect, but it wasn't hard enough for Iroh to call out points. He did call time though, and both Sokka and Toph (who were now very close on the mat) leapt backwards. Iroh had them bow, and they both made their way to the edge of the mat.

A few more pairs offered to spar following the first match. Zuko, who was a second degree black belt, lost to a twelve year old when he refused to kick the kid in the head and the kid landed three kicks on him. He muttered something about 'doing the honorable thing' as he walked back to Sokka's side, grunting slightly as he held his side.

"Thank you so much for such a good class tonight. And remember, wear your uniform upstairs to the tea shop during business hours and we'll give you a free cup of tea. Manager's special. Right, Zuko?" Iroh said as the students lined up at the end of the class.

"If you say so, sir," Zuko said with a shrug, though he grimaced.

"Though at the end of the day, I'm the one losing money aren't I?" Iroh laughed heartily again. "Oh well. A good cup of tea is worth more than money. Alright. Let's meditate."

Iroh led them through the meditation, the bows, and then dismissed them. Most of the students milled around the mat after they were dismissed. Some were chatting, others show each other moves, and still others were lined up for one of Master Iroh's Famous Hugs.

"Thank you again so much for having me, Master Iroh," Toph said, bowing to him before he gave her a hug.

"Of course, of course. I'm glad to see you. It's been too long. Did you take a break from training? You have not competed in the city tournament for the past few years."

"I was in law school, sir. I didn't have time. But I recently moved to this side of town and things have slowed down some. Your instructor, uh Mister Sokka, he brought me to try it out tonight."

"Sokka!" Iroh called out. Sokka jogged to where he and Toph were standing. "You didn't tell me you knew Master Beifong. If she's here to steal our secrets, then I know who to blame."

Iroh and Toph chuckled at this, but Sokka looked concerned.

"Don't worry, son. I've known Master Beifong for a long time. I appreciate you bringing her," Iroh said, clapping Sokka on the shoulder. He hugged Toph once more and then bowed to her. "Well, as always it is lovely to see you. If you'll excuse me, I must go find my nephew before he tries to escape without telling me why he was late. Excuse me."

Toph bowed back to him, as did Sokka. She gently touched his arm. He blushed hard before she motioned him to go on, and he realized he was supposed to guide her, not stare at her like a lovesick puppy.

"I just want to say once more that I'm really sorry for what I said earlier," Sokka admitted as they made their way out to the car.

"I appreciate that. I was going to forgive you anyways after kicking your ass, but I appreciate you apologizing again to," Toph said as he released her arm when they arrived at the car door. "I knew you didn't mean it like that. But… wow. It sounded bad when you said it."

"Yeah. I swear it was supposed to be a joke and didn't quite come out that way," Sokka said as he climbed into the driver's seat. "Maybe I can make it up to you?"

"Hmmm. And how would you do that?"

"I'm gonna surprise you."

"Oh?" Toph smirked. "What kind of surprise are we talking?"

"Umm… I can't tell you. That would ruin the surprise. All I can promise is that it'll happen here in the next few days."

 **Hey! This was originally a one shot but I decided to turn it into a whole story, so we'll see where this goes...**

 **AN: I know the Avatar bending styles are based off of types of martial arts and taekwondo isn't one of them. However, it's the one martial art I know best, so I wrote them doing that. Sorry if this throws off the universe at all, but I thought you might prefer a well-described and accurate description of a fight as opposed to a reasonable guess. Anyways, hope you enjoy!**


	3. Chapter 3

It had taken Sokka an hour to find the law firm Toph worked for. It never occurred to him that she wasn't a partner in the firm, and therefore her name wouldn't be listed on any buildings and that searching for her name online would result mostly in hits about her father's company.

Only after wandering around for a good amount of time in the business sector of the city, phone in hand, did he find it. Luckily, he had given himself a reasonable amount of time to look, a blessing he considered as he took the elevator up to the fourth floor. The perfume of the flowers he bought filled the small space quickly.

He opened the door to a suite and immediately made eye contact with a secretary seated directly in front of him. She narrowed her eyes at him until he sheepishly walked up to the desk.

"Do you have an appointment?"

"Uh, no…" Sokka said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm here to see Toph Beifong?"

The secretary narrowed her eyes again as she consulted a schedule.

"Miss Beifong is in a meeting right now. She should be done any minute now. Feel free to have a seat and when she is done, I'll see if she's available for… visitors."

Sokka nodded and took a seat in one of the chairs near the door, angling himself so as not to be directly stared at by the woman at the desk.

* * *

"They won't do that because to them, they did nothing wrong," Toph said. She sat behind her desk, one hand to her head.

"Come on Toph. Stop being so negative," Ty Lee Wu said in her cheerful voice. "That's Mai's job."

"Shut up, Ty Lee," Mai Zhang replied, her voice as flat and bored as Ty Lee's was cheerful. "But she's right. I think we can do it. We just might need to go back to the drawing board and figure it out again."

"Yeah. Plus there's always another option…" Ty Lee added, her voice flirty.

She leaned forward in her chair, showing off her low-cut dress shirt.

"She's not answering verbally so I'm assuming she's showing off her boobs."

"Yes she is."

Toph's head turned in the flirty girl's direction.

"Not a viable option, Ty Lee."

"Says you. You haven't even seen them," Ty Lee pouted. Then she smirked, and wiggled her eyebrows at the woman beside her. "Mai likes 'em though."

"Shut up, Ty Lee," Mai snapped, though she was blushing.

"Put your boobs away," Toph ordered. "Come on. Let's go get coffee or take a walk. Maybe we'll figure something out with a clear head."

Ty Lee wilted as Mai lifted her wrist to check her watch.

"Can't. It's five. We gotta go home and get ready for tonight," Mai said.

"It's five. Already?" Toph's shoulders dropped as she sighed. She ran her hands over her face. "We haven't gotten anything done. I'm gonna have to work late."

"No you can't!" Ty Lee interjected. "Remember? There's the party tonight."

"I don't want to go to the party."

"The three hundred yuans you spent already spent on the ticket say otherwise," Mai said.

"We'll come in tomorrow morning. Well, I can't speak for Mai, but I'll be here tomorrow morning," Ty Lee said. "We'll get it done I promise. But tonight is for fun."

"I'll be here too," Mai reassured them. She started gathering up the papers on Toph's desk and arranging them into a pile. "Come on. I'll give you a ride home so you won't have to wait for the bus."

Toph sighed but nodded nonetheless.

"I'm gonna go grab some stuff from my office then I'll meet you guys in the lobby," Ty Lee said cheerfully, springing up from her seat.

"Who said I'm giving you a ride home?"

"I did," Ty Lee said with a wink.

And with that, Ty Lee opened the door and skipped out of the room. Mai waited until she was out of sight and leaned in towards Toph.

"For the record, I have no opinion on Ty Lee's boobs."

"One, I don't care," Toph said. "And two, I think we both know you're lying."

Mai flushed again and turned stiffly towards the door. She did not look back as she made her way out.

Toph sighed and started checking her purse for everything she needed. Phone, check. Wallet, check. Keys, check. With another sigh, she pulled out her cane and stood up from her chair. Once clear of the desk, she swung it open and made her way out into the lobby.

Mai and Ty Lee were already waiting in the lobby and, unbeknownst to Toph, were exchanging looks over the visitor waiting in for her.

"Ready to go?"

"Miss Beifong?" The secretary said as Toph walked out towards the exit.

"Oh. Ming. I thought you'd have left by now."

"I would have ma'am. But there's a visitor here for you," Ming the secretary answered. Sokka smiled as he stood up.

"It must be the fiancé!" Ty Lee said in an excited whisper.

Sokka's face fell just as a look of panic crossed Toph's.

"Uh… Toph?" Sokka said slowly.

Upon hearing the voice, Toph perked up. She smiled wide, much wider than usual, and stepped forward in his direction.

"Oh Sokka! I'm so glad you're here!" Toph said in a high, fake voice. "You… told me you were gonna surprise me and here you are. You got me."

She turned her direction slightly in the direction of the two other women.

"Thanks for the offer Mai, but now that Sokka's here I'm going to go with him. I'll see you guys later. Bye," she said quickly, still in her fake voice.

Without another word, she grabbed Sokka by the arm and turned him around. He opened the door and led them out the door. As they turned to go down the hall, Sokka dropped his voice.

"What the hell are they talking about? Did she just say that I'm your fiancé?! Why? Why would she say that?"

"She said that because I am an idiot and forgot."

"Forgot? Forgot what?," Sokka stopped suddenly, which made Toph stumble slightly as she was still holding tight to his arm. "Did you forgot that you're engaged?"

"No dude chill," Toph said quietly, holding up a hand. She sighed. "When I first started here a couple years ago, they kept bugging me about my personal life. They kept trying to set me up on blind dates and I hated it. Eventually I told them I met a guy on vacation, which shut them up for a while, but then Ty Lee brought it up a couple months ago and I panicked and said we were doing great and he just proposed. So when you show up out of the blue with flowers, naturally they assume you're the fiancé from out of town."

Sokka stared for a moment, thinking.

"Wouldn't any date you go on be a blind date?"

Toph sighed, seemingly in exasperation, though she was smirking.

"You're very funny."

"Wouldn't they notice that you don't wear a ring?"

"I said something or other about needing my fingers free for … feeling things or whatever. I don't know I played the blind card. Anyways, what are you doing here?"

"Well first of all since you've already smelled them, these are for you," Sokka said, offering the flowers in the direction of the hand that wasn't holding her cane. "I told you I was going to surprise you. I was thinking dinner?"

Toph's face fell.

"Oh. I can't tonight."

Sokka frowned.

"Why not?"

"I have to go to this fundraiser tonight. I would skip it but I already spent a lot of money on the ticket," Toph sighed. But then her face lit up. "But I think I get a plus one. You could come with me if you want."

Her face fell again.

"But you'd probably have to pretend to be my fiancé though. So maybe you better not."

"I don't mind," Sokka said quickly, before trying to play it off with a shrug (which was lost on Toph). "I can be a pretty convincing actor if I need to be."

"Well they don't know anything about him other than he's from out of town and we're supposed to get married but the wedding keeps getting put off due to work or something. So you could probably be yourself, just pretend like you know me really well and probably kiss me or whatever."

"What do you mean? Something like this?" Sokka said, seeing his chance.

He stepped to Toph's side and kissed her cheek, which made her cheeks burn as she blushed deeply. After he pulled away, she held up a hand to brush his face and found his chin.

"No, dummy. Like this," she said. She pulled his face closer to her and led his lips straight to her own.

They stayed like that for what felt like forever. When Sokka finally pulled away, it took an immense amount of effort.

"I think they'd buy that, don't you?" He whispered, his lips nearly brushing her ear.

"I think so, yes," Toph breathed back. She took a deep breath and seemed to shake herself back to reality. "Uh… uh did you drive? Because I need to get home and change for tonight. And it's probably 5:15pm by now. The fundraiser starts at 7pm."

"Why do you have to change? I think you look great," Sokka complimented as he offered her his arm again to continue down the hall.

"Thanks but this is business professional," Toph said in a haughty voice. "I need to wear something business casual."

"What's the difference?"

"Hell if I know." Toph shrugged as they slowed to a stop in front of the elevator. "But spirits forbid they happen to take a picture of me wearing the wrong style dress and it ends up in the Society page of the newspaper. My mother would never let me hear the end of it."

Sokka chuckled as the door dinged and they stepped inside.

"All I know," Toph continued, "is that the clothes on the left side of the closet are my business clothes, the clothes on the right side are my party clothes, and the drawers down below hold the t-shirts and sweatpants and I'm not supposed to wear those unless I'm sleeping or ill."

"Let me guess. You wear them all the time."

"All the time. My mom would have a cow if she found out because it would 'bring shame on the family' or whatever. Luckily, nobody cares who you are if you show up at the store at one o'clock in the morning for wine, tampons, and a family size bag of potato chips. They don't ask questions. They just bid you goodnight and hope you don't pull a knife on them on the way out."

The elevator dinged again as it reached the ground floor.

"So," Sokka started as he stepped forward. "Since we're supposed to pretend we're engaged, do you mind if I pick out what you wear? So we match? It'll add to the facade."

"Whatever you think is best."

Sokka thought about this, and his heart sank a little.

"You know, maybe I should try to stop and buy something nicer. This is my best outfit, but now that I think about it, it doesn't seem good enough for anything too fancy. Whatever you wear is gonna make me look like nothing."

"Hey. Don't sell yourself short. I think you look great."

"You know what? Thank you. That makes me feel bet-" Sokka cut himself off and frowned at Toph's smirk. "Why do you feel the need to do that?"

* * *

If Sokka was being honest, he could have been wearing a million dollar suit and he wouldn't have looked half as good as Toph did.

As he wore a blue button-down with khakis and a navy sport coat, he had picked out a dark blue dress for her to wear as well. It consisted mostly of navy lace over a slip, and it hung around her shoulders, which made her collarbones pop. (Sokka wouldn't admit it but other things might have popped as well).

She had twisted up her hair into a bun, with a few loose strands hanging down around her ears. She had even applied some light makeup. Sokka was incredibly thankful that she couldn't see his many glances in her direction.

"Alright. Are you ready?" Toph muttered.

"As I'll ever be."

"Hey, wait. What's your last name?"

"Kuruk. Why?"

"Because I'm going to I have to introduce you," Toph said, sighing. "You're really a meathead sometimes. That's what I should call you. Pity I can't introduce you like that in public."

Before Sokka could reply, Ty Lee appeared out of the crowd. She squealed and threw her arms around Toph's neck, catching her by surprise.

"You made it! I'm so happy."

"Ty Lee," Toph hissed. "What are the rules about hugging me?"

"Don't do it during business hours and always announce that you're going to do it before you do it," Mai answered automatically as she too appeared from the crowd.

"I squealed. Wasn't that warning enough?" Ty Lee offered as she released a still-surprised Toph from the hug.

Mai wore a floor length red and black ombre dress that clung tight to her curves. She had darkened her eyeshadow and lipstick for the evening. Ty Lee was the opposite, having dressed in a light pink halter dress, her makeup light and airy in comparison to Mai's.

"So. You're Toph's fiancé?" Mai asked plainly, crossing her arms.

"Yep. That's me. I'm Sokka."

"It's sooo nice to finally meet you!" Ty Lee said happily. "Toph's rather private when it comes to this kind of stuff. She's barely said anything about you."

"Yeah. It's almost as if you didn't exist," Mai said, raising an eyebrow. Her eyes bore into Sokka's.

"Well I'm real," he chuckled nervously. "I just live out of town and, uh, don't make it into the city very often."

Mai continued to eye him suspiciously.

"So you guys are also lawyers?" Sokka said quickly. "You work with Toph?"

"Yep," Ty Lee said with a smile. "We all graduated at the same time, but Toph's the only one who gets to take the lead on cases."

"Probably because she graduated top of our class," Mai added.

"He doesn't need to know that," Toph muttered, color rising in her cheeks.

"Why not? You certainly have no problem telling anyone else," Mai shrugged.

Suddenly, Mai stood up straight and looked right past Sokka's shoulder. Her eyes widened in panic.

"Oh no. Zuko's here."

"Zuko? My roommate's name is Zuko. " Sokka turned to follow Mai's line of sight, then snapped his head around. "Wait. You're Mai aren't you?"

Mai blushed crimson.

"I have to go. I'll see you tomorrow Toph."

Without another word, Mai ducked back into the crowd. Ty Lee watched her go with a bemused expression and turned back and smiled.

"I'm gonna go chase her down in case she loses it and starts hitting people. Or better yet, gets drunk and starts crying," Ty Lee said a mischievous grin and a wink. She gave Sokka a big bear hug. "It was nice to meet you, cutie. And Toph I'm gonna hug you again."

"Ty Lee no-"

It was too late. Ty Lee swept Toph up into another hug. Before she released her, she leaned close to Toph's ear.

"Nice job on this one."

She released from a hug Toph once again and slipped into the crowd.

"They seem… nice," Sokka muttered. "Is Ty Lee always that…"

"Flirtatious? Over the top? Annoying?" Toph listed. "Yes."

"I'm not surprised Mai ran off though. Apparently the breakup was bad. Wine?" Sokka asked as he grabbed two glasses off of a passing waiter's tray. Toph nodded and accepted the glass from him.

"How bad?"

"Well, I don't know the details, but I do know that she broke up with him and he got really drunk and made a fool of himself, pleading for her to take him back on her doorstep. Then he drunkenly asked out my sister, who was only in town visiting her boyfriend who is also my other roommate. Then he passed out on the couch and only woke up when he realized he'd somehow accidentally set the curtain aflame and half his face was on fire."

"Oh my- is he okay? Was he hurt?"

"I mean he's got some scarring around his eye, but nothing too major. Mostly he's just embarrassed that he acted like such an idiot. He's since given up drinking. Wait, I see him," Sokka said. He lifted a hand and waved.

"Hey man. What are you doing here?" Zuko greeted, giving Sokka a handshake hug as he approached the pair.

"Uh, Toph invited me. What about you?"

"Jian from work asked if I could come in. Something about Fire Nation artifacts being up for auction and he wanted the Liaison's office opinion," Zuko said, shrugging. "I think he just didn't want to be alone. Hey, uh, any chance you guys saw Mai pass by here a second ago?"

"Yeah."

"No."

Zuko looked between Sokka and Toph, trying to figure out why their answered varied until he realized who he was talking to.

"Master Beifong. Always a pleasure," he said with a slight bow.

"Please. Call me Toph," Toph instructed, waving him away, wine glass in hand. "So you work for the Fire Nation Liaison's office?"

"I _am_ the Fire Nation Liaison," Zuko answered. "By day at least. At night, I'm a manager in my uncle's teashop."

"Interesting to know. And you assist at his school as well, right?"

"Yeah. I kind of owe my uncle, uh, everything. The least I can do is help out as much and in any way I can."

Toph smiled.

"Good to know there are still people in the world who do things like that."

To Sokka's surprise, Zuko, who normally was about as cheerful as Mai, smiled.

"Thank you, ma'am. Now if you'll excuse me, I must go. Great to see you both."

The three exchanged muttered goodbyes and Zuko left just as the smell of meat wafted through the large hotel ballroom. Without warning, Sokka immediately started following the scent, only returning to his date when he picked up a plate at the buffet and realized she wasn't with him.

"Sorry. Got caught up in the smell of food," Sokka apologized sheepishly as he returned to Toph, who stood alone in the crowd looking frustrated. "You hungry?"

"Yes. But give me a second. It's really crowded in here. I didn't think about that until you left. Hold this," Toph said, holding out the wine glass.

He took it from her. He watched as she folded up her cane and slid it into the purse over her shoulder. He offered an arm, which she found and immediately punched hard.

"What was that for?" Sokka said with a yelp as he avoided sloshing wine over his pants.

"For leaving me," Toph replied coolly as she linked her arm in his. "Now let's go eat and don't leave me alone again or I'll do worse than that. Besides. We're supposed to be engaged, right?. That means I'm supposed to pretend I like you or whatever."

" _Pretend_ you like me?" Sokka smirked. He leaned over and kissed her gently on the cheek, which made her blush. "Why, I think you might _actually_ like me."

"You wish, meathead," Toph muttered, though the color didn't fade from her cheeks.

Sokka and Toph made their way to the buffet, where Sokka muttered the options to Toph under his breath. Sokka then loaded their respective plates with her preferred choices.

"This food smells delicious," Sokka said as he led the way to a nearby table. "I saved up money to take you to dinner, but I'm inclined to say this stuff is probably ten times better than whatever I could afford."

"Eh. The food might be okay, but overall, I'm not impressed," Toph said, frowning as she picked up her fork and knife. "There's no live music. I didn't pay three hundred yuan for there no to be live music."

"Wait. You paid _how much_?"

Toph bit her lip.

"Well, I paid seventy five for the ticket and I donated the rest. And before you say anything, it's my parent's money. I use the money _I_ make to pay my own bills and I give as much of _their_ money away as I can. I have no use for it."

Sokka frowned. Toph's cheeks burned again, though this time out of embarrassment. Even though she lived within her means as a pro bono lawyer, it was this kind of big-dollar buys that she forgot other people didn't make with the same frequency she did.

"I'm sorry," she muttered. "That sounded really snotty. Like the rich brat I've tried hard not to be."

"Hmmm."

Sokka didn't say anything as he continued to eat.

"I guess there's some consolation that you're giving it to charity and not spending the money on stuff," Sokka said after a moment of silence. "What charity is this for anyways?"

"Earth Kingdom Children's Health Corps," Toph answered. "They travel to rural parts of the Earth Kingdom to give kids health screenings. It's one of the preferred organizations I give to. I'm actually on their board. Well, I'm their general counsel, so I'm kind of on their board."

"Oh. Cool. And uh, remind me. What's a general counsel?"

"I'm their lawyer."

"Oh right duh," Sokka said. "So if you're on their board, does that mean you get like free drinks or something?"

"Ha I wish. No. It just means I get to go be bored in a board meeting once every few months while they decide how to spend their money."

"Your money."

"Exactly. They get to decide how to spend _my_ money. Unfortunately, I can't tell them how to do it. Instead I get to sit their and listen to them bicker for an hour," Toph said with a sigh. "But I'm on the board for my parent's foundation, so I get to make decisions on who gets our grants. That's fun at least."

"Ahem. Toph? Who is this?"

Toph paused, her brow furrowing. Sokka looked up from his dinner to see an older man frowning down at the pair of them. Remembering his role, he put on a jaunty smile.

"Well, sir. I'm her fiancé."

"Her _what_?"

"Sokka," Toph muttered. She moved to put a hand on his arm but instead put a hand on his leg. Realizing her mistake, she quickly pulled it back and willed her face not to blush.

"Yes, sir," Sokka continued. He stood and offered a hand to the man. "Sokka Kuruk. I'm the out-of-town fiancé everyone's heard about."

"The _what_?!"

"Sokka. Sokka stop."

"What?" Sokka said, his smile fading slightly as he turned back to Toph, who had risen and grabbed his arm. "What's wrong?"

"That's not one of my work colleagues. That's my dad."


End file.
